Two weeks have now passed since the war that broke out in the Middle East between America, Israel and Iran. Even though this battle is being fought thousands of kilometers away from India, its flame has now started reaching the kitchens of our and your homes. The most direct and biggest impact of this geopolitical crisis has been on the supply of LPG. Shortage of LPG cylinders is being seen in many parts of the country. Despite booking, people are not getting the cylinders on time, due to which black marketing of gas has started taking advantage of the compulsion. In such a situation, a question arises, will this war have any impact on the supply of PNG gas reaching every home through pipeline?
Amidst the shortage of LPG, the heartbeats of pipeline gas vendors increased.
According to the data till the end of the year 2024, there are about 33.2 crore LPG connections in India. Seeing the news of the problems being faced by these crores of consumers, the concern of those people who have PNG (Piped Natural Gas) connections in their homes has also increased a lot.
At present, gas reaches about 1.36 crore households in India 24 hours a day through underground pipelines. PNG consumers do not have to worry about booking cylinders and pay the bill as per their monthly consumption. But the current crisis and shortage of LPG has put the PNG customers in a dilemma as to whether the stove in their homes might get extinguished due to the war.
What is the government’s ‘action plan’ to deal with the gas crisis?
However, considering this problem and fear of the general public, the government is completely alert. To ensure uninterrupted supply of fuel across the country, ‘Essential Commodities Act, 1955’ has been implemented.
The government has made it clear that if gas is available in the National Grid, then first priority will be given to common households. According to this government order, the supply of PNG used in homes and CNG used for transportation has been kept in ‘top priority’. This simply means that 100 percent of the average gas consumption in these two sectors in the last six months will be ensured without any interruption. Only after meeting the domestic and transportation needs, the remaining gas will be supplied to industries and power plants.
What assurance did the distributors give?
At the same time, the companies associated with gas distribution have clarified that there is no possibility of any kind of hindrance in the supply of domestic pipeline gas. Manish Verma, Marketing Head of Avantika Gas Limited, has completely clarified the situation while talking to the media. He admitted that due to the tensions in the Middle East, the global cost of gas has definitely increased, and this has mainly affected the supply of industrial gas. However, the supply of PNG reaching homes is completely safe and no negative impact is expected. It is also a matter of relief that till now no PNG customer in the country has filed any complaint about non-availability of gas or low pressure. Therefore, families using pipeline gas do not need to panic in any way.